A MISSING PIECE: SOFT SURFACES IN THE HEALTHCARE ENVIRONMENT

Soft surfaces cover 90% of a patient’s contact environment in healthcare setting, and are constantly exposed between launderings. Because of the frequency of contamination, laundering uniforms, privacy curtains, labcoats and patient apparel has limited effectiveness and has not been proven to reduce cross-contamination while they are in-use.

Hand sanitization is only effective until recontamination occurs—which happens immediately upon touching a contaminated soft surface. Regular behaviors like opening a privacy curtain or retrieving a pen from a uniform pocket can cause recontamination.

Effective solutions are ones that doesn’t require behavior modification or training and ongoing compliance by staff.

What is missing today? – A proven, permanent solution for healthcare fabrics

Lack of guidelines for soft surface fabrics have created a “gap” in practice where these high-touch surfaces are largely ignored. Watch a video simulation of microbial contamination:

Controls in place to reduce the risk of cross-contamination should continuously be evaluated as solutions become available.